


Photo Memories

by Fortune_Maiden



Category: Kamen Rider Decade
Genre: Canon Compliant, F/M, First Meeting, Gen, Humor, Missing Scene
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-14
Updated: 2021-02-14
Packaged: 2021-03-15 00:01:05
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,163
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29304651
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Fortune_Maiden/pseuds/Fortune_Maiden
Summary: When the Hikari Studio put up a “Help Wanted” sign, the idea had been simple. They wanted someone to mind the counter, take photos, and develop photos – maybe also deliver them to customers directly.Instead, they got Tsukasa.
Relationships: Hikari Natsumi & Kadoya Tsukasa, Hikari Natsumi & Onodera Yuusuke, Hikari Natsumi/Kadoya Tsukasa
Comments: 3
Kudos: 11
Collections: Chocolate Box - Round 6





	Photo Memories

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Jen425](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Jen425/gifts).



> I hope you enjoy! I'm sorry it didn't end up very shippy but I hope this is still ok!

There was a bin in the corner of the Hikari Studio that had been started first a joke, then to prove a very important point, and then was largely forgotten, save to throw a few stacks of photos into.

Over the years though, Tsukasa’s bad photo bin had started to overflow, and had finally reached the point where it was no longer possible to just stuff them in there. Any new photos added – and there were always new photos being added – now ended up on the floor, and Natsumi had to put her foot down after a customer almost slipped on one.

They were still a respectable photo studio, after all! Even if they never stayed in one world long enough to build up a client base anymore.

After returning from one of her adventures, Natsumi decided it was time to finally sort through the bin. She asked Tsukasa about it only to get a dismissive “just throw them out” before he wandered off again, to go save some other world under the pretense of destruction.

To her ears, it sounded like he was sulking. Or maybe those were her own feelings. “Just throw them out” – as though she would do that.

Even if they were terrible.

The photos in the bin weren’t like Tsukasa’s occasional lucky artistic accidents that Natsumi’s grandfather kept in an album, and Natsumi liked to occasionally looked through to remember their past journeys. The ones in the bin were truly terrible. Terrible lighting, subjects out of frame, blurring so bad that the original image was a mystery… it probably would be better for business that prospective customers never saw them.

But there was still a certain nostalgia to them, Natsumi thought and she collected them in neat little piles on the table.

She was around halfway through them, when Yusuke returned from his own errands.

“Natsumi-chan,” he greeted her cheerfully, before taking one looks at the piles of photos on the table and then over to the bin. “Final straw?”

“Final straw,” Natsumi confirmed with a confident nod. Yusuke put down his bags, and sat down across her, grabbing some photos from the unsorted stack to help organize them.

Natsumi smiled. She could always count on Yusuke to try to help right away (unlike Tsukasa who would ‘accidentally’ knock over a stack or Kaito who would commentate unnecessarily and then snatch one of the photos to challenge Tsukasa to steal back).

“Is there any order to it?” Yusuke asked.

“No, just stack them however.”

“What are you planning to do with them?”

Natsumi shrugged. “Not sure yet.” The downstairs collection would start anew (because Tsukasa _always_ brought home a few rolls of bad photos in lieu of an explanation), but she hadn’t decided where to put the old ones. Tsukasa’s room was probably the best option.

Natsumi smirked at the thought of him coming home and finding stacks of his old terrible photos covering his bed. That would teach him to stay out so much without a single check in.

With Yusuke helping her, sorting through the photos became a much livelier activity. Yusuke was full of good cheer, poking fun at any standout photos in between telling Natsumi about his own recent adventures. The Riders he met, the people he helped…

It would have been nice to go an adventure together sometime soon, Natsumi thought. With Tsukasa and Kaito as well, of course. It had been a while since the four of them made an appearance together.

“Oh! Natsumi-chan, look at this one! It’s you,” Yusuke suddenly exclaimed turning a photo to her.

“Huh? Where did this come from?” Natsumi blinked in confusion. The photo was blurred and out of focus, but compared to most of the others it wasn’t too bad. Natsumi was clearly recognizable, though there was an angry look on her face, and her arms were crossed. “I don’t recognize it at all,” she remarked.

“You’re looking right at the camera though,” Yusuke pointed out.

“That doesn’t mean I knew he was taking my photo. You know how Tsukasa-kun is with that camera,” Natsumi said as she moved the photo closer to her face. The bad lighting made the shadows behind her look like pointed demon wings. _Or maybe bat wings?_ Natsumi thought, suddenly self-conscious. Had those wings always been in that photo? Natsumi wondered if she’d noticed them the first time.

“Maybe it’s from the day we found Tsukasa,” she wondered, squinting. Aside from her, there was one other identifiable item in the photo. A paper on a table with the word “Help” written in a purple marker.

Natsumi smiled. “Come to think of it…”

* * *

When the Hikari Studio decided put up a “Help Wanted” sign, the idea had been simple. They wanted someone to mind the counter, take photos, and develop photos – maybe also deliver them to customers directly. They weren’t even looking for someone with that much experience. Any young, hardworking, willing-to-learn person would do. Honestly, Natsumi wasn’t even sure they needed someone since she was done with school and willing to work fulltime, but her grandfather insisted on it, wanting his granddaughter to have time for herself too.

The sign never even had a chance to be posted. Though not really because they’d hired someone.

His name was Kadoya Tsukasa. He was a handsome young man, around Natsumi’s age or maybe a little older. He wore a pink antique camera around his neck.

And that was all anyone knew about Tsukasa. Including Tsukasa himself.

“Amnesia?” Natsumi exclaimed in alarm, crouching in front of their guest and looking him over intently. They had found him collapsed outside their shop, and panickily brought him in to lay on the couch. He woke up quick, and didn’t appear injured – he also admitted his head didn’t hurt. Maybe it was trauma then? But his dour expression didn’t really show any fear or unease.

In fact, he was just arrogant.

“Maybe an evil organization erased my memories,” Tsukasa suggested bitingly, and pushed Natsumi’s arm away when she tried to feel his head for bumps. “I’m fine. I just have no idea how I got here to this...this…” He looked around with a frown.

“Hikari Studio,” Natsumi’s grandfather supplied helpfully, as he set down a tea tray on a nearby table. “I’m Hikari Eijiro. I run this photography studio with my granddaughter, Natsumi.”

Tsukasa nodded thoughtfully. His hand moved to his camera.

“Young man, do you like photography?” Eijiro asked brightly.

“Probably.”

“That’s a very unique camera you have.”

“Sure is.”

“Oh!” Natsumi exclaimed. “Is any of the film used up? Maybe if we develop the photos, we can find a clue about you!”

It was worth a try, she thought, and Natsumi felt very smart for suggesting it. It probably wouldn’t be like the movies where a photo revealed some mysterious location or important person, but perhaps they could recognize some nearby shop or park. Then they could go there to see if anything triggered Tsukasa’s memory or anyone recognized him.

Her enthusiasm ran out quickly once the photos were actually developed though.

“What the heck is this?” Natsumi said. The images – if they could even be called that, were blurred and distorted. Faces were out of frame, colors were distorted, and the not a single thing was in focus. “Is the camera broken?”

“Of course not!” Tsukasa snapped. He stared at the developed images with a pensive frown. “This world…” he whispered, ominously.

Natsumi and Eijiro leaned closer to him to hear better, but he didn’t continue the thought.

“Maybe the film was ruined by whatever happened to you?” Natsumi offered sympathetically. She and her grandfather had been so excited before – they shouldn’t have gotten Tsukasa’s hopes up so cruelly. He put up an arrogant front, but she couldn’t even begin imagine what it must have been like to have a gaping black hole in place of memories.

“Maybe.”

“I think the photos have a very artistic charm to them,” Eijiro said. “You should keep them.”

“Don’t need ‘em,” Tsukasa said bluntly. “You have any film for this?” He raised his camera.

“Oh, yes, yes, of course!” Eijiro said, and quickly rushed out to the next room, leaving Natsumi and Tsukasa alone. Tsukasa didn’t look at her though. He simply went back to fiddling with his camera, as though observing it for damage.

“It looks like that camera is very important to you,” Natsumi said, trying to fill the silence. “Was it a gift?”

“I wouldn’t know.”

Right. That was stupid to ask.

“Maybe it was a present from a girl,” Natsumi continued anyway, awkwardly. “Since it’s so pink.”

“It’s magenta.”

“Oh. Okay then. Magenta, it is.” It looked pink to her, and she stifled a knowing smirk. Tsukasa caught it anyway and rolled his eyes.

“What will you do now?” Natsumi pressed. “Do you have anywhere you can go?”

“Probably not,” Tsukasa said with a shrug. “Or are you about to offer up your own home for the poor handsome amnesiac man?”

“What? Certainly not!” Natsumi felt her face heat up. “And who are you calling handsome? Have you looked in a mirror?”

“Yes, every day.”

“You remember _that_?”

“With a face like mine, why wouldn’t I admire it?” Tsukasa retorted. He was looking past her to the mirror on the wall. What an arrogant person.

“I think Tsukasa-kun is very handsome,” Eijiro agreed, coming back inside with film in hand. As soon as it was in his hands, Tsukasa reloaded his camera, and snapped a photo of Natsumi before she could react. Then he turned to Eijiro to do the same. Natsumi’s grandfather smiled and held up a victory pose.

“And I couldn’t help but overhear before. I think it’s a wonderful idea.”

“What is?” Natsumi frowned.

“Tsukasa-kun staying here. We have a spare room.”

_“What?”_

“Well, in that case, how can I refuse?” Tsukasa said immediately.

“You’re supposed to refuse!” Natsumi said. “Who accepts an offer like that so easily?”

“A poor handsome amnesiac with nowhere else to go.”

“Grandpa!” Natsumi grabbed his arm. “Look at how he acts. We don’t know anything about him.”

“I don’t think we need to worry, Natsumi-chan,” her grandpa assured her, affectionately squeezing her shoulder. “Tsukasa-kun is a good proper gentleman.”

“Based on what?”

“He likes photography,” Eijiro said very earnestly. Natsumi didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. That was like saying a clock repairman would welcome any weirdo into his home just because they liked clocks!

“Yes, I do,” Tsukasa agreed readily. “And what are you worried about? A scrawny shrewish Natsumikan like you doesn’t entice me as all.”

“Who are you calling Natsumikan?” Natsumi snapped and looked to her grandpa pleadingly again. It wasn’t effective.

“Now, now Natsumi-chan, it’s only for a little while,” he said. “Just until Tsukasa-kun can gather his bearings. Having a roof over his head will at least give him one less thing to worry about.”

She hated how reasonable he sounded, and looked over at Tsukasa again. The smarmy arrogant quips were just a mask, right?

“And besides, we’ve wanted to have additional help around the shop!” Eijiro added cheerfully, picking up the finished “Help Wanted” sign on the table. “Tsukasa-kun, you’ll do it, right?”

“Eh, why not. This is as good a role as any.”

Natsumi just sighed heavily.

She wasn’t even going to try arguing anymore.

* * *

“Tsukasa was just like that from the beginning,” Natsumi grumbled.

Yusuke laughed knowingly. “That does sound like him,” he said. “But it worked out well in the end.”

It did. Even before all of their adventures through the AR Rider Worlds, Tsukasa’s addition to the Hikari Studio had brought a welcome spark to Natsumi’s life. He’d been much moodier and colder then, but from the beginning, he’d been good to Natsumi.

He even had a pretty nice smile, even if it only appeared when she had to pressure point into behaving.

Natsumi was glad she could see it appear naturally now.

“From what you’ve said,” Yusuke spoke up again. “It sounds like that photo of you was the first one he took in your world.”

“I suppose so,” Natsumi agreed, oddly happy at the thought, and shifted through some of the others, curious if she could find the one Tsukasa took of her grandfather while she was it.

She couldn’t find it.

“I think I’ll keep this one,” Natsumi decided. “And when Tsukasa comes back, he should take another one. With him in it too. I don’t think I have one with me and him together.”

“I’ll take it for you,” Yusuke said solemnly. “Natsumi-chan, you deserve to have a proper clear photo with your boyfriend too.”

“That’s a good idea too,” Natsumi agreed, and sighed dramatically. “Really though.” She looked over to the bad photos bin – empty now, but eagerly awaiting its next offerings – and shook her head. “I still wonder how we ended up with a photographer who is perfect at literally everything _except taking photos!”_

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading! I hope you enjoyed!


End file.
